Too Much Information
by Jubilation Bells
Summary: As Veronica is angrily rummaging through Spencer's nightstand drawer looking for hidden pills, she gets the wrong idea as she comes across something more personal. Sparks a conversation that neither of them ever wanted to have. Different take on the scene between Spencer and Veronica in 4x23. One shot.


What if Veronica does find something in Spencer's nightstand drawer when she's rummaging around? It isn't pills, but she isn't too happy about it.

I do not own Pretty Little Liars.

* * *

Spencer Hastings returned home from a somewhat stressful coffee date with her friends not in the greatest mood. When she walked in the door she walked upstairs to her bedroom in a huff. While approaching the doorway she spotted her mother frantically digging through her drawers. Tension had been high with her mother lately; she still did not agree with her parents' decision to send her to rehab and she was furious at them for their lack of trust in her while at the same time refusal to tell her the truth about anything. Now just as she was finally warming up to her sobriety coach that her parents insisted on hiring, her mother fired him for simply falling asleep on the same couch as her.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Spencer asked angrily at her mother's clear invasion of privacy.

"Where have you been?" Veronica deflected answer her question with another question.

"The Brew. Why are you going through my drawers?!" Spencer responded running over to make sure that her mother didn't come across the private objects that were hidden at the bottom of that particular nightstand drawer.

"When I gave Dean his final check he said that you had been sleeping downstairs because you don't feel safe up here," Veronica answered as calmly as she could, "Is that true?"

"Ugh, Mom.."

"Why don't you feel safe?" Veronica asked getting angrier. "Is this about not trusting yourself? Is there some hidden stash of pills?" She asked as she resumed rummaging through the drawer.

"No, Mom, I'm not the one that's been hiding things. That would be you and Dad," Spencer answered before she could stop her mother from digging around again.

"Excuse me?" Veronica asked shocked. "And what do we have here exactly?" Veronica inquired pulling out the half empty box of condoms that Spencer desperately hoped that she would not find.

Veronica turned to Spencer looking furious. Spencer's eyes grew wide as she was searching for something, anything, to say that would not make this situation any worse. But her efforts came up short.

"Is there something else I should know about?" Veronica yelled. "How long has this little thing with Dean been going on? Is this what you call obeying the rules of this house? Hooking up with your sobriety coach and lying about it? Now I see that I was absolutely right in not trusting you because if this is how you're going to-"

At this point Spencer was both embarrassed and genuinely confused. "What? No! Mom, have you forgotten about my boyfriend? Toby? The one who you haven't even let me talk to all week?" Spencer shot back cutting her mother off. She was beet red with embarrassment and could not believe what she had just basically told her mother. She was certainly dreading the conversation that they were inevitably about to have.

Neither woman said anything as they both looked away from each other immediately regretting opening up this can of worms. "Oh," was all Veronica managed to say. She had been so angry with Spencer lately, with how she had been responding to everything, that she honestly had forgotten about Toby in this instance. While relieved that it was not Dean that had been in her daughter's bedroom in that way, but still disappointed with what she learned instead. Once she had warmed up to him, she actually did like Toby and thought he was a nice guy. But up until now, she never wanted to think about him being intimate with her daughter either.

"And how long as this been going on?" She finally asked.

"Mom, I really don't want to talk about this with you," Spencer finally responded angrily.

"Well I don't think that's an option right now, Spencer. How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know, a few months. Maybe," Spencer barely even managed to whisper.

Veronica just glared at her.

"I mean we've been together for over a year. And we're always careful. Obviously," Spencer said looking away from her mother again.

"Spencer, do I need to talk to you about-"

"I really, really wish you wouldn't," Spencer quickly replied.

Veronica still didn't say anything. Spencer was slightly relieved when she finally placed the box back down on the nightstand. "Well," Veronica began clearing her throat, "at least you're being safe," she said as she began to turn around. "I supposed I'm glad it wasn't drugs again... Or that this was with Dean," She said trying to muster up a smile that only came out as an uncomfortable laugh. Spencer did the same. "Let's just hope your father doesn't find out about this," Veronica said on her way out.

"Actually, I think he already knows," Spencer laughed nervously.

Veronica glared at her youngest daughter again. "How exactly?" She asked. She had very mixed emotions about this. She was upset that Spencer would have told Peter and not her, but at the same time she was upset to know that this was even happening at all."

"Well, we kind of got in a fight a few weeks ago when you were out of town. About Mrs. DiLaurentis," Veronica rolled her eyes at the very sound of her husband's mistress's name. At least she knew that Spencer wouldn't be having a Jason of her own any time soon. "It got bad so I went to stay at Toby's for the night. Dad dropped by the next morning and I think he sort of figured it out," Spencer trailed off, remembering how horrifying that moment was when her father walked in to the apartment to find her wearing her boyfriend's underwear and him wearing nothing but a towel. This moment right now was not quite as bad by comparison, but Spencer did not imagine needing to relive that humiliation with her other parent so soon.

"I see," Veronica answered as she turned around to walk out, "I guess it can't be any worse than the time I caught your sister. She wouldn't look at me for weeks."

As she was picturing Melissa's reaction and vaguely remembering awkward tension between her sister and her mother many years ago, Spencer let out a laugh for the first time in a while and her mother joined her. Despite everything else, it was nice.

"Just try not to do it when we're home," Veronica joked as she left.

"You don't have to worry about that," Spencer said with a smile as she got ready for the bridal show that Hanna thoughtlessly signed them all up for.


End file.
